military having to deal with gay rights, and the naacp gave him very low marks for his civil rights record. all of this raised the question as to why the president would want him. and there are things that have to be paid attention to, like, given the record, given the backing of susan rice, why is he so upset with having senator hagel as the secretary of defense? looking to retrench military power in the world, so there is going to be a fundamental choice being made for the next four years, and secretary hagel just part of is that debate. >> trying to pick a fight, figuring out where to move, you want to have a fight for this going simultaneously? if he picks susan rice? guest: there was an interview, and i think that had those simultaneously been going on, susan rice would have deflected some of the attention. other nominations, like john brennan, which is controversial in some comment -- in some quarters, and john kerry -- i was the on the want to have written about this two years ago, because i had conversations with them about my own view is that at the time we will still pursuing --